The Spanish national broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), broadcasts the event within Spain and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Spanish broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the Spanish entry in the past. For 2018, TVE used the reality television singing competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) to select the artist and song to represent Spain in the contest, as they had previously done from 2002 to 2004. On 28 February 2018, TVE's Governing Board approved the renewal of Operación Triunfo for a further series.[2] On 14 September 2018, TVE confirmed that the series would serve as the platform to select the Spanish entrant at the 2019 contest.[3]

Before Eurovision

Operación Triunfo 2018

Operación Triunfo is a Spanish reality television music competition consisting of training 16 contestants in a boarding academy in order to find new singing talent. The tenth series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2018, premiered on La 1 on 19 September 2018, hosted by Roberto Leal and broadcast from the Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya in Terrassa, Barcelona. On 14 September 2018, during the press conference presenting the series, it was announced that the performer(s) that will represent Spain at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the sixteen contestants entering the show's boarding academy.[3] The same method was used in the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2018 editions; however, unlike previous editions, all the contestant that entered the academy were eligible for the Eurovision selection process, and not only the contestants who succeeded in advancing to the series' finale.[3] "Gala Eurovisión", the special live show of Operación Triunfo 2018 that selected the Spanish entrant and song for Eurovision took place on 20 January 2019, a month and a day after the series' regular finale. "Gala Eurovisión" featured ten competing entries: three entries were selected by the audience from among seventeen competing songs via an online public vote, and seven additional entries were selected by an evaluation committee from the remaining fourteen entries.[4][5]

Contestants

Operación Triunfo 2018 featured eighteen novel solo artists as contestants, of which sixteen were selected to enter the show's boarding academy in the introduction live show or "Gala 0" on 19 September 2018.[6][7] The sixteen contestants that were selected to enter the academy were eligible for "Gala Eurovisión". A total of 17 songs were allocated, either solo or in duet combinations.[4][5][8]

Contestant was eligible for "Gala Eurovisión" and was allocated at least one song Contestant was eligible for "Gala Eurovisión" but was not allocated any song

Competing entries

Interested songwriters were able to submit their song demos from 1 November 2018 to 15 November 2018. 953 song were submitted to TVE before the deadline expired.[9] Participating songwriters could suggest the contestant(s) from Operación Triunfo 2018 they considered ideal to perform their song, but the suggestion was not binding. All submitted songs had to include lyrics in one of the official languages of Spain. A five-member evaluation committee — consisting of a member representing the Spanish branch of the international OGAE fan club, a member representing the Spanish AEV fan club, a member from the digital branch of TVE, and two members representing the Spanish music industry — shortlisted up to ten songs for an online vote by 10 December 2018.[4][5]

In addition to the public call, established songwriters were contacted directly by TVE and the production company Gestmusic, and were invited to provide songs from 1 November 2018 to 15 November 2018. Over one hundred additional songs were submitted by the invited songwriters.[9] A five-member evaluation committee — consisting of two members representing TVE's management, a member from the digital branch of TVE, and two teachers from Operación Triunfo's boarding academy — shortlist up to ten additional songs for the online vote.[4][5]

Seventeen selected songs (via the public call and via invitation) were allocated by the boarding academy's staff to thirteen of the sixteen eligible contestants of Operación Triunfo 2018 in solo and duet combinations. The allocation was announced on 11 December 2018. The contestants recorded a one-minute demo of their respective songs. The demos were made available to the public via TVE's official website on the night between 19 December 2018 and 20 December 2018, during the finale of Operación Triunfo 2018 when the regular winner of the season was determined. An online public vote ran until 2 January 2019, enabling each user to vote for their three favorite entries each day.[10] The three entries with the most votes advanced to the special live show "Gala Eurovisión" that took place on 20 January 2019. A five-member evaluation committee — consisting of two members representing TVE's management, a member from the digital branch of TVE, and two teachers from Operación Triunfo's boarding academy — selected seven additional entries from the fourteen remaining songs for "Gala Eurovisión".[4][5][11]

"Gala Eurovisión"

"Gala Eurovisión", the special live show of Operación Triunfo 2018 to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, took place on 20 January 2019. Ten entries competed in the live show. The winner was selected by public vote.[4][5]

During the show an expert panel commented on the performances. The members of the expert panel were:[13]

As the opening of the show, the competing artists performed the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 "Toy". In addition to the performances by the competing artists, Eleni Foureira – runner-up of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 representing Cyprus – performed her entry "Fuego" and "Tómame".[13]Alfred García – who represented Spain in the 2018 Contest together with Amaia Romero – was present for the announcement of the winning entry.

Gala Eurovisión – 20 January 2019

Draw

Artist

Song

Televote

Place

1

Marilia

"Todo bien"

6%

6

2

Sabela

"Hoy soñaré"

2%

9

3

Famous

"No puedo más"

5%

7

4

Natalia

"La clave"

6%

5

5

Julia

"Qué quieres que haga"

3%

8

6

Miki

"La venda"

34%

1

7

Noelia

"Hoy vuelvo a reír otra vez"

7%

4

8

Carlos Right

"Se te nota"

1%

10

9

Miki & Natalia

"Nadie se salva"

14%

3

10

María

"Muérdeme"

22%

2

Preparation

The official video of the song, directed by Adrià Pujol and Fèlix Cortés, was filmed on 13 February 2019 at the Mercantic antique market in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona[14] and was released on 7 March 2019.[15]

In addition to his international appearances, Miki will perform during the Eurovision-Spain Pre-Party event which will be held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid on 20 April 2019.[19]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will take place at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel and will consist of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May and the final on 18 May 2019.[20] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Spain automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Spain is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.